Public Crawl Against the Tide

[Kitter Bitters]

Coruscant

All around the city planet people hustled and bustled on with their lives. The usual morning commuter traffic hummed in the sky while the sounds of millions of footsteps below signaled those who would rather walk to work than deal with an air taxi. Of course there were the subway cars that ran like clockwork and the usual vendors trying to sell caf, hot buns, and whatever else they could to the sleepy people off to start their work day. Everything seem normal but the lives of several individuals were about to change forever.

:::: incoming call :::: emergency services :::::

"911 what is your emergency?"

A mechanical voice filled with static came over the line. The operator leaned in close to her headset, trying to hear.

"I'm sorry can you repeat that?"

More static filled the line and the Twi'lek was about to cut the call when finally the mechanical voice became audible.

"... the bomb fires will purge the greed from the city planet. Black Heth has spoken."

"I'm sorry sir... did you say there was a bomb?"

The line went dead.

---

Coruscant - Public Parking Garage 57 - Business District

It was chaos. The explosion started in a small speeder parked in the corner near the elevator on the 7th floor. Debris were raining down on all of the morning commuters. The entryway was blocked, trapping citizens inside the garage. injuries, deaths, and panic filled the air.
​

---

OOC Thread: https://www.starwarsrp.net/threads/crawl-against-the-tide-ooc-thread.174710/

 

[Deleted]

"Has anybody taken credit yet?"

"The emergency operator said Black Heth was mentioned."

"No way. They aren't organized enough to pull something like this off."

"I don't know kid. That's who they said."

Hotch gritted her teeth about the kid remark but said nothing. The lights and sirens were too loud to say much anyway as they joined a throng of emergency services and police speeders all crowding around the parking garage. Traffic had been quartered off and there were droids pushing people back away from the scene. Hotch would never understand why people liked to sit around and watch disasters happen.

She got out of the speeder strapping her blaster-proof vest on as they headed towards a large male who was barking orders. He seemed to be in charge.

"Oh good. 8th precinct?"

Hotch and the officers with her nodded.

"We need to evacuate the buildings next to the garage in case there is another bomb. We've started the evauation of the garage but we can't get past the sixth floor. Anybody on six or above is trapped."

 

[Xeno]

Coruscant, Business District
Tags: Kaylee Hotchner

Luxar | Klocto | Sword​

"I'm not saying a damn thing."

A pureblood Sith hissed this, managing to spit on the boot of a half-Nagai man overlooking him. Xeno wasn't bothered by this. In fact, he simply shrugged, winding back a punch and knocking the man out cold.

"Tie him up, Klocto," Xeno ordered. "We'll leave this guy for the Jedi."

"Sith agents are everywhere these days," the Rodian muttered, "They're getting cozier around here."

"I wonder if-" Luxar began, but the mechanical behemoth was cut off by the sound of a distant explosion. "The hell?"

Xeno rushed over to the wall of the structure they were in, phasing his head through to get a look outside. Sure enough, the nearby parking structure had gone up in flames. Down below, he caught a glimpse of a squad of officers...

"We need to evacuate the buildings next to the garage in case there is another bomb. We've started the evauation of the garage but we can't get past the sixth floor. Anybody on six or above is trapped."

A stern frown spread across the former Sith's face before he popped his head back inside.

"Nearby parking lot," he relayed, "Looks like a terrorist attack of some kind. Cops are saying they can't get past the sixth floor. Let's get moving."

"You got it, boss man," Luxar saluted. "Leave it to me."

From the eight floor of the structure they were within, Luxar's FLTCH-series battle droid body tore through the wall. Then, with a forced enhanced leap, the Shard barreled through the wall of the sixth floor of the parking lot like a cannon ball to the side of a vessel.

"That works," Klocto shrugged, taking a puff of his cigarette.

Before long, Xeno and Klocto had leapt in behind their mechanical counterpart.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

The sixth floor was chaos. Smoke had filled the corridors and people were crushed under debris. Some citizens were trying to move fallen items away from the stairs so they could exit. The upper floors were flooding with smoke as well. It was difficult to see. On the eighth floor a child was screaming for its mother.

When the side of the sixth floor burst open several people were caught in the debris. An elderly Bothan was right next to the wall when something flew through the wall with the ferocity of a cannon ball. The elderly Bothan went flying and hit a supporting beam. She was dead on impact.

As beings entered the new hole ( Xeno ) panic escalated. The trapped people thought surely these were the terrorist ready to kill them all. Pandemonium ensued.

Emergency service droids were evacuating the buildings next to the garage as a precaution. Citizens were filing out onto the street and staring stunned at the fiery mess that only moments before had been a parking garage.

---

Meanwhile ….

:::: incoming call :::: emergency services :::::

"911 what is your emergency?"

“The water sanitation plant is next.”

The line went dead.

---

OOC Thread: https://www.starwarsrp.net/threads/crawl-against-the-tide-ooc-thread.174710/

 

[Holly Starstorm]

Coruscant - Water Sanitation Plant

Holly was walking down the hallway with a hand held audio recorder stretched out towards the director of the water plant, Tavlo Ro. He was a burly Chagrian who did not seem happy being followed by a nosy reporter.

"I've told you before Miss Starstorm we do not have a comment at this time."

"Mr. Ro I'm sorry but that just isn't good enough. People are scared. You said there was a new microbe found in some of the water samples but your office hasn't released any other public health information for citizens. Coruscant has the right to know what it's drinking."

"Yes they do and as soon as we know what to tell them we will. Please Miss Starstorm. HNN will just have to wait for an official statement."

He had made it to elevator C and was pushing the button. The doors clanged open and to his annoyance Holly marched right in after him.

"Do you have any idea when that statement will be ready?"

Holly was so absorbed in her story she barely noticed who else was in the elevator with them. The doors slid shut and light music began to play, which she also ignored as she fixed the director with a hard stare. What she could not ignore however was the sudden lurch of the elevator and the sound of a small explosion in the lift shaft.

Suddenly the elevator went plummeting several floors downwards, jarring everyone in the car. When it finally came to a slamming stop it started to tip slowly, as if something had caught the car but it wasn't quit steady.

 

[Cyran Vaas]

​

Location: Coruscant - Water Sanitation Plant
Tags: OPEN

Leaning against the back end of his crescent shaped speeder bike Cyran placed a cigarra in between his lips. With the distinctive click of his scuffed up lighter he brought a small flame to the end of the roll of dried herbs and began to draw in the smoke of it. Blowing out a cloud in the alley he set himself in.

Cyran was currently an industrial district and close to the local water sanitation plant. Having just completed an investigation on behalf of a labor syndicate because of a scandal over wage theft. His black helmet rested on the seat of his speeder bike as the bounty hunter thought about his next move. But suddenly the loud sound of an explosion could be heard close by. Causing Cyran to reflexively grit his teeth and bite down hard on the end of his cigarra. Spitting out the piece of it that he bit off. “Pleh!” the zeltron exclaimed as the overwhelming taste of the raw tried tobacco filled his mouth and taste buds.

Given that the sound of the explosion echoed through the alley Cyran couldn’t tell which direction it came from. Grabbing his helmet and placing it over his head the bounty hunter used its sensors to get an idea of where it came from. Triangulating it to the water sanitation plant closeby. Hopping on his speeder bike Cyran revved its engines some before taking off to figure out what was going on.​

 

[Joland Graves]

CORUSCANT
Water Sanitation Plant, Industrial District
Tags: Holly Starstorm | Cyran Vaas | Open to interaction

Some times, a man deserved a little treat. For Joland, that time was now. It wasn't often he could put aside his training at the Jedi Temple and have a little free time. But his laboring was done for today, so what better way to spend that time then to visit Duke's Donuts & Coffee in the industrial district. The classic capuccino was a fan favorite — smooth vine-coffee with the freshest bantha milk froth around (or as fresh as you could get on Coruscant). Pair that with a delicious Adarian-style doughnut, prepared expertly by a CRISP-E-O donut droid (Joland vowed to get one himself one day), for an out of this world combo.

Few things in life were better than that.

The secret, Joland mused, was the café's convenient location next to the water sanitation plant. Freshly crafted water did wonders for the filtered coffee, before it had time to slosh around in crusty, old pipes.

All things were right with the world as Joland carefully guided the steaming, liquid gold to his lips. Then tragedy struck. The serene moment was shattered, like his mug now smashed to pieces on the duracrete sidewalk, as an explosion rocked the industrial district.

Everything happened so fast. Joland turned, staring at the water sanitation plant in disbelief as debris fell. The foundation of the building's sidewall cracked, and the wall came tumbling down. Cries of anguish rang in his ears as he choked on the dust and debris.

What the hell just happened? Chit... chit chit chit. This is bad. Really bad. Joland tried to speak into his caf-soaked commlink for back up but it hissed and went dead. Kriff. No time to panic. If there were survivors, they needed help and they needed it now.

The young, dejected padawan ushered civilians out of the area and carefully entered what was left of the water sanitation plant's front lobby.

 

[Barrien Siegfried]

Coruscant - Parking Facility

He'd been at least once before. It was a place with weird connotations as he knew his father was wanted by the authorities there. Fortunately, not many knew he was his father's son and he decided not to tell anyone that fact anymore. Not because he didn't care for the man he'd never met, but because he didnt want to be defined by his legacy. It was a history wrought with violence and turmoil and no matter how Barrien looked at it, he didn't see someone he could ever identify with. The violence and death were too much for him to even think about.

The path his father had chosen was on the razor thin edge of darkness. One step too far and it would suck him in and never let him go. Barrien walked the opposite path. His road was flat and even keeled. There was no worry about straying or falling, there was only peace and the desire to spread it through ways that didn't involve violence. He was a Barrier Knight and his goal in life was to end conflict. For this reason he did not want to be associated with his father. No one would ever believe that he sought peace, least of all those who used the darkside, if they knew his father was the monster who indiscriminately slaughtered those on the side of the dark. Even children.

And now he was sitting on a bench in a small park contemplating that very thought when the ground shook beneath him. He winced as he felt pain and suffering waft through the Force. Something was very wrong. He turned his attention away from the plants and felt out. Though he'd felt the tremor, and heard the blast, it was impossible to pinpoint the location in the valleyscape of the city.

The Force, however, could direct him.

Jumping up from his seat, he used the Force to amplify his speed and propel him along the walkways in the direction of the site of the explosion. What he found was a partially collapsed structure that appeared to be used for parking. He could feel people trapped inside. He could feel someone slipping away. He could feel people that were either trying to help, or were part of the responsible party. If the latter he would have to negotiate with them. For now, he settled on using his mastery of the Force to begin lifting rubble away to clear an access for himself and emergency personnel.

Kaylee Hotchner | Holly Starstorm | Xeno | Cyran Vaas | Joland Graves

 

[Deleted]

Parking Structure
Tags: Barrien Siegfried


The police chief was covered in dust and rubble and the vein in his neck was throbbing.

“Alright bomb squad has made it to the fifth floor and they haven’t identified any other devices. SWAT is set to enter but we can’t get up to the sixth for a sweep. We don’t have time. We have to go in.”

An officer in a SWAT uniform spoke up. Hotch did recognize him. She had seen him maybe once at the gym but didn’t know his name.

“Sir what about that thing that broke through the wall on the sixth? We identify that yet?”

“No. Scans indicate maybe some type of droid. It could be our guy but it doesn’t make any sense to blow a building and then go into it. We…”

He paused as his comm unit chirped. A second latter the radio dispatch voice came over.

“Chit! The Water Sanitation Building was just hit! At least a dozen people trapped in an elevator. Who the hell is this guy!”

He grabbed the bridge of his nose as if he was thinking hard. Hotch felt like she was watching an intimate moment and looked away. She had never seen the Captain show weakness this way. She was staring at the smoke filled scene when her own name called her back to the situation.

“Hotch! I see at least one Jedi moving rubble. See if he can clear a path for SWAT!”

“Yes sir!”

She wove in and around people until she was near Barrien Siegfried. “Can you get out SWAT team through? What can I do to speed it up?”

 

[Kitter Bitters]

Water Sanitation Plant

The elevator was caught on a piece of debris wedged between it and the side of the building. At any moment it could go tumbling down and with no breaks and over thirty floors to fall the crash would be fatal to at least some of the occupants. Already some had sustained head injuries and others were panicking about the situation.

The other employees in the building were evacuating. Police and emergency services had arrived and the bomb squad was preparing a sweep to see if there was another bomb.

 

[Holly Starstorm]

Water Sanitation Plant

Holly had been thrown forward into the elevator doors, hitting her head on impact. She groaned and ran her fingers through her long blond hair, and winced. The side of her head was tender and when she pulled her hand away she was shocked to see blood covering it.

“What happened?”

She got shakily to her feet and looked around at the rest of the passengers.

“Is anybody hurt?”

 

[Seku Bondara]

Seku had been looking forward to a rare day off, hoping to pursue some private leads into the possible whereabouts of the missing Jedi Alex StormWolf on her own time, away from the prying eyes of the SIA hierarchy. That was, until she heard an explosion in the distance, and her holocommunicator begin chirping insistently.

"There's been an incident," the holographic image of one of the SIA's numerous and nameless handlers informed her. "We need all available agents...."

"How bad of an incident," Seku interrupted. "I heard an explosion just a few moments ago...."

"It's bad...We need all available agents to begin combing the area around Parking Garage 57 in the Business District. Much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to coordinate with the local police department on this one. It's their turf as much as it is ours."

"Technically speaking, don't we outrank local law enforcement in matters of possible terrorism?"

"Look agent, we haven't got time to get into an argument over who has what jurisdiction. Get your butt down there and mind your Ps and Qs. That's an order."

"Well...kark it....there goes my day," she groaned as she flicked her holocommunicator off and bolted out the door of her apartment, remembering at the last second to grab her blasters.

 

[Deleted]

Parking Structure
Tags: Barrien Siegfried | Any SIA in the area ( Seku Bondara ??)

“Can you get out SWAT team through? What can I do to speed it up?”

She had barely gotten her question out when she realized the police Captain was waving her over. Now what?

“Excuse me.”

She left the Force user who she assumed was a Jedi and walked quickly back to the Captain.

“Change in plans. The Allince are sending more people to help get us into the structure. They technically have jurisdiction so we don’t want to get in their way.”

“Yes sir.” Hotch felt annoyed as most cops did when it came to jurisdiction but she didn’t say anything. Lives were at stake.

“Hotch weren’t you over at Guns and Gangs?”

“Yes Sir I was.”

“Good, then I want you to find me Black Heth. See if they really are the ones up to this.”

“I am on it.”

She headed towards the squad speeders. Hopping any Alliance members arriving would be able to clear a path to get to those trapped in time.

---

((Trying to keep things moving. See OOC thread.))

 

[Joland Graves]

CORUSCANT
Water Sanitation Plant, Industrial District
Tags: Holly Starstorm | Cyran Vaas | Open to interaction

Police and emergency services finally arrived. Joland helped them usher civilians to safety. A bomb squad came in tow, dressed in full body armor. Members of the Coruscant Guard, armed to the teeth, stood on the perimeter of the scene.

"What's going on?" Joland asked the acting security chief of the scene. "This wasn't just an accident, was it?"

"No, master Jedi. Explosives have been confirmed. A parking garage in the business district has been hit, as well." That explained the odd delay in emergency response time. "Black Heth is claiming responsibility."

"Some upstart petty street gang has turned to terrorism? What the—" Before he could finish, Joland felt a pang in the Force. A sense of danger.

"Got an extra commlink?" Joland asked. The acting chief handed one over. "Keep me updated." The padawan whisked away, rushing further into the crumbling building.

The Force guided him to the elevators. He pushed the button once. Nothing. He pushed again. Nothing, again. He jabbed his finger on the smooth silver button rapidly. Still nothing. Joland called a tech over who sliced into the control panel and the doors opened with a screech. The elevator was easily 30 stories high. "Patch me into the elevator's communications." The tech nodded and did so.

Joland apprehensively spoke into the microphone, hoping the elevator's speaker was still operating, "Is there anyone in there? This is Jedi Padawan Joland Graves. What's your status?"

 

[Holly Starstorm]

CORUSCANT
Water Sanitation Plant, Industrial District
Joland Graves

People in the elevator were starting to panic. A female who looked like she might be part of the janitorial crew was crying and screaming. Director Ro was laying unconscious but he had a pulse.

"Is there anyone in there? This is Jedi Padawan Joland Graves. What's your status?"

“Wait! Everybody be quiet! Shhh!!” When the chatter died down Holly spoke up.

“Yes we are in here! There are nine of us! Some of us have minor injuries. One is unconscious. He hit his head pretty bad.”

The reporter in her was quick to take in facts but even quicker to want more.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

 

[Seku Bondara]

Arriving at the damaged parking structure, Seku flashed her SIA credentials at the Coruscant PD officer who tried to block her from going past the barricades that had been hastily erected to keep people back.

"Buster, you have no idea who you're dealing with here, so I suggest you step aside while I'm still in the mood to let you," she said in a tone of voice that showed she meant business.

"Yes, ma'am...sorry..."

Glancing around, Seku noticed two people who seemed to have a far better handle on just what the hell was going on then the rest of the local law enforcement, so she made her way over to them and introduced herself.

"Seku Bondara, SIA sent me over. Can you bring me up to speed on the situation?"

Kaylee Hotchner
Barrien Siegfried

 

[Kitter Bitters]

Parking Structure:
Seku Bondara

The police captain was quick to inform the SIA agent about what they were dealing with.

“A bomb went off on the sixth floor. We did a sweep and do not believe there are any additional explosives. There are debris blocking our entry to the sixth floors and beyond. One Force user is moving debris for SWAT to get in (Barrien Siegfried ). We also picked up some type of disturbance. Something broke through the sixth floor wall from the surrounding building ( Xeno ). Our scans indicate this killed at least one life form inside and did damage to the roof of the sixth floor, which of course is the floor of the seventh. We aren’t sure if that is our perp or if it’s someone trying to help without thinking things through. Either way we need to apprehend that person so we can make sure it’s not our bomber. We also need to work fast. The damage caused by the bomb and the additional breaking from our mystery man did significant damage to the seventh floor. The whole thing might cave in.”

 

[Seku Bondara]

Seku listened to what the police captain was saying, nodding slowly as she glanced over the scene, her SIA honed instincts kicking in.

"Alright, this is your turf as much as it is mine," she said. "What do you need from me?"

Kaylee Hotchner
Barrien Siegfried

 

[Kitter Bitters]

“Work with Barrien Siegfried to clear the debris and get in. Then we can start evacuation and try to apprehend the mystery guest.”

Seku Bondara